Beneath the Surface
by MissMalfoy394
Summary: My take on Dramione. Hermione returns to Hogwarts to repeat her seventh year, with out Harry and Ron in tow. Draco has returned due to court orders. Can they learn to work together as Head Boy and Girl, like Dumbledore wanted them to? Or will it turn to dust? Rated T, but may have to be changed to M depending on how the story goes
1. Prologue

**Beneath the Surface - Prologue**

"Hermione! There's a letter here for you!" Mrs Granger called up the stairs to Hermione. She had been lying in her room, just like every other day that summer. The war was over, Voldemort was dead. The Death Eaters had been captured and charged. Some were in Azkaban; others had been sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss, including Lucius Malfoy.

Hermione sighed and got up. She wondered who could have possibly sent her a letter. She had only sent her letters to Ron and Harry last night, so they couldn't have written back so quickly, unless it was very urgent. Hermione started to worry as she walked down the stairs, just in case it was urgent.

As she arrived in the kitchen, Mrs Granger handed her the letter. Her name and address were written on the front, in a familiar font. She turned the envelope over and saw the Hogwarts crest on the seal. A small smile started to form on Hermione's face, and her mother's as she watched her daughter break the seal open slowly, and pull out the letter. As she took the letter out of the envelope, a small metal badge fell onto Hermione's lap. She picked it up, and stared at it in wonder. Hermione looked back at the letter, and read it slowly.

After a few moments, she looked up at her mother, in complete shock. "Mum, I've been invited back to Hogwarts, to repeat my seventh year. And I've been made Head Girl," she said, as she looked back to the letter and the badge, with _Head Girl_ written on it in gold.

"I'm going back to Hogwarts. I'm going back."


	2. Chapter 1: The Library

**Beneath the Surface**

**Chapter One - The Library**

She woke up, screaming, for the third night this week. Hermione Granger was back at Hogwarts, to repeat her Seventh Year. She was Head Girl, her dream from the day she received her Hogwarts letter. Being Head Girl had its perks, if you could say that. She had her own room in a shared dormitory with the Head Boy, which came in handy as she woke up almost every night with horrific vivid nightmares about her experiences in the war. Tonight was one of those nights.

She had had the same dream again; she was in Malfoy Manor, being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. Except this time it was slightly different. Just as Bellatrix started to carve the word "mudblood" in her arm, Bellatrix's face changed into Voldemort. If that wasn't bad enough, the face changed into each one of her friends; Harry, Ginny, Luna, Neville, and finally Ron. Ron was the love of her life, they became a couple soon after the War ended. She had always imagined her and Ron ending up together at some point, and now they were. But when Ron appeared as Bellatrix torturing her, Hermione woke up, his face appearing everywhere she looked. She couldn't close her eyes for fear of the dream starting again. Hermione turned on her light and picked up her Potions homework, which was not due for another week, but she started to do it anyways.

The next morning, Hermione walked down to the Great Hall, alone, as usual. Ron and Harry decided not to return to Hogwarts for their final year, as they had already been offered Auror positions. Even though Hermione did have Ginny, Neville and Luna, she felt entirely alone, as they had made a new "Trio" when Harry, Ron and she had left Hogwarts to hunt for the Horcruxes. The Gryffindor Tower was also on the other side of the castle, so it was difficult to see the two often. Even though it was a Saturday, Hermione was still up early. No lie-ins for the Head Girl! She wandered down to breakfast. Since it was seven thirty, the Hall was almost empty, apart from her and Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, Head Boy. He was such a confusing character. He used to always think that he was King of the World, or the Wizarding World at least. Now, he wasn't. Hardly any of the Slytherins had returned, especially from Fourth Year and up. The only ones left were Draco, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, and Theodore Nott. She had also noticed that the younger Greengrass sister, Astoria, had returned. Hermione had heard that Daphne, the elder sister, had married soon after the war, in an arranged marriage organised in the hopes of redeeming the Greengrass name after the war.

Hermione sighed and sat down at the Gryffindor table, which was empty apart from her. She propped her Charms book up against the milk jug, so that she could study while reading. Since she had missed out on her proper Seventh Year, she wanted to start studying early so that she could revise all her Sixth Year work before the NEWTs.

Breakfast passed quickly and quietly, and as Hermione was leaving the Great Hall, more students were entering to get their breakfast. She passed Ginny, Neville and Luna, and after a quick hello, Hermione headed off to the library to get some study done.

Hermione had missed the library. She missed the solitude, silence, and peace that was in there. She walked down the back of the library, to a secluded corner with a desk and armchair, and also had a nice view of Hagrid's hut and the Forbidden Forest.

As Hermione was sitting in the armchair, reading a book on Runes, a shadow fell over her, blocking the light from the window. She looked up to see none other than the Head Boy himself, Draco. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "What does it look like, Malfoy, I'm reading," Hermione replied calmly. She was unsure of how to act around Draco. He seemed to have changed slightly since the war. His father had been Kissed by Dementors during the summer, and his mother and he had been sentenced to house arrest until Draco was out of Hogwarts, and they had another court hearing to review their sentences. He seemed unsure of how to act too.

"Well, well move!" He said, but without any malice. Hermione sighed and looked around. "Look, Malfoy, I was here first, but there are two armchairs and a desk here. You can sit here too if you want. I won't talk to you, or make any contact if you don't want. If not, since I was here first, you can leave."

Malfoy then sighed, and sat down on the opposite armchair. He took out his _Quidditch Through the Ages_, the newest edition, and began to read. They sat in silence until about six o'clock, when the Head Boy and Girl decided to go for dinner, also in silence.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully for both Draco and Hermione, and both went to bed, hoping that the other wouldn't hear their nightmares, knowing that they were likely to come again tonight.


	3. Chapter 2: Nightmares and Cuddles

**Hi Guys! MissMalfoy here :) I would like to thank you all for your support so far in the story! This is the second chapter in Beneath the Surface. I didn't think I would get to post the first chapter up, never mind the second chapter already! Don't be expecting this all the time though, because I highly doubt this will happen again. **

**This chapter is the first real Draco/Hermione interaction, so enjoy!**

**Beneath the Surface **

**Chapter Two - Nightmares and Cuddles**

Hermione stirred in her sleep. She had been disturbed by a yell from the other Head's room. She heard the yell again and woke up, completely alert. As she strained to hear what was going on, she hear the voice again, but this time it was pleading. Even though Hermione knew who occupied the other room, she was still shocked to realise that it was Draco yelling. Hermione sighed and got out of bed, grabbing her dressing gown as she left the room, running towards Draco's room on the other side of their shared common room.

She softly opened the door to Draco's room and crept in. She realised that his room was a mirror image of hers, except in blue, whereas hers was light purple. For once, she was glad that their house colours hadn't been incorporated into their room designs. She looked around for Draco, and found him in bed, wrapped in the sheets. A light layer of sweat covered him as he whimpered and pleaded with the person in the dream. The moonlight shone in from the window beside the bed, illuminating Draco in an eerie light that made him look almost angelic.

As Hermione was staring at Draco, he started to whimper again. "Not her, not Hermione. Not Hermione," he cried softly. Hermione froze, halfway across the room. She wondered if her hearing was alright. He couldn't have said her name! That was just odd.

"Not Hermione, no," he cried, softer now. Hermione couldn't believe her ears, but she was shocked about how her body reacted. Without thinking, Hermione continued across the room and sat down on the edge of the bed beside Draco. She started to stroke his hair, and she whispered softly to him, "Shh Draco, it's ok now. It's all ok."

As if he could hear her, Draco seemed to calm down. He stopped whimpering and just sighed softly. He rolled over onto his side, trapping Hermione's hand under his arm. Hermione sighed, and wondered what she was going to do about this problem.

After fifteen minutes of struggling against Draco's strong grip, Hermione gave up and lay down beside the blonde haired boy. She looked up at him, and realised how angelic and peaceful he looked when he wasn't smirking, or had his "mask" on.

As Hermione tried to settle down quietly, Draco woke up. He seemed shocked to see the Head Girl in his bed beside her, and tried to figure out how that happened. He thought back to the events of that day; they had spent the afternoon in the library, but didn't talk what so ever. After dinner, they had both gone to their separate rooms and he hadn't seen her since.

He must have been staring at her, because Hermione giggled softly, bringing Draco back to reality. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "You had a nightmare, and woke me up," she replied. "I came in here to see if you were alright, and you trapped my arm. I gave up trying to get it back and decided I'd sleep here instead of wasting more time trying and not sleeping. Do you mind?"

Draco was mildly confused, and a little bit pleased. Hermione had come in to see if he was ok. After all that he had done to her, she still did that. He hadn't said much to her since their return to school, apart from apologising for his ways. "No, no I don't mind. I would actually quite like it if you stayed. To be perfectly honest, I don't like those nightmares. Maybe you being here might keep them at bay."

Hermione seemed to be content at that answer. She snuggled into Draco, and found that under all that muscle, he was surprisingly comfortable and warm.

The Head Boy and Girl fell asleep soon after that, and just Draco hoped, the nightmares disappeared for now. The two had an almost full night's sleep, the first one they both had in a while.


	4. Chapter 3: Asking for Forgiveness

**Beneath the Surface**

**Chapter Three - Asking for Forgiveness**

Draco woke up slowly, blinking at the harsh light coming through the window. He absently thought about how he had forgotten to close the curtains again. As Draco started to become more awake, he noticed a weight resting on his arm. He looked down and saw none other than Hermione Granger curled up into him; her chocolate brown curly hair sprawled across the pillow. He noticed that her hair had become less frizzy since they started school, and had gotten longer and curlier. When Hermione stirred, Draco realised that he had been staring and quickly looked away, trying to hide the soft blush on his cheeks. Draco got up, threw on a pair of trousers and a t-shirt, and went out into the common room.

The common room was quite a large room. It had a large fireplace, surrounded by couches and armchairs. There was a grand bookcase in the corner, and also a small kitchenette, which was handy for when Draco didn't want to go to the Great Hall for meals. Today was one of those days, and Draco fixed himself some toast and pumpkin juice and sat down on "his" armchair, as he liked to call it.

Meanwhile in Draco's room, Hermione had started to wake up. She had been woken up by the sun streaming in the window. As Hermione lay there, with her eyes half closed, she realised that the light was coming from the wrong side of the room. She shot up and her eyes flew open, taking in her surroundings. What had happened her room? It was a different colour! And everything was in a different place!

All of a sudden, the events of the night before flashed back to Hermione. She realised with a shock that this wasn't her room; it was Draco's! Hermione groaned and buried her head in the pillow. What had she done?! She didn't want to go outside, as she knew that she would see Draco, but she couldn't stay in the room forever!

* * *

Eventually, Hermione plucked up her Gryffindor courage and shyly walked out of Draco's room. Draco himself was sitting in their common room, reading a book. When the door shut, he looked up at Hermione, amused.

"Finally awake, are you?" he said with a smirk.

Hermione knew this was probably going to happen, but she couldn't help but get slightly annoyed at the amused look on his face. She didn't want to be rude and just walk away, but then again she didn't want Draco to mock her.

"Malfoy, if you don't mind, I would prefer if we talked after I shower and dress. So, excuse me while I go do that," she said, while continuing across the common room.

Hermione reached her bedroom door, which seemed miles away. She quickly went in and shut the door. As she was doing so, she heard Draco chuckle to himself as he went back to his book.

Hermione took out a new set of clothes and went into the bathroom to shower. The entire time Hermione spent showering and getting ready, she could not stop thinking about Draco and the night before. One thing she couldn't get over was how nonchalant he was being about it. Mind you, she hadn't given him much time to say anything about it, but that may have been for a good reason. Hermione also couldn't understand why she called him "Draco" in her mind, but called him "Malfoy" when she spoke to him, or referred to him. She quickly dried her hair with a spell that Ginny taught her, which made her hair less frizzy and more curly when it dried your hair. "_Well, time to face the music"_ she thought, as she opened the door to her bedroom and entered the common room.

* * *

The first thing Draco noticed about Hermione when she re-entered the common room was her hair. He had never noticed how shiny it was, or how sleek. He watched her as she walked over to the couches and sat down on the couch facing him, taking out her Potions book as she did so. She quickly turned to the page that she had marked and began to read.

After a few minutes of silence, Draco decided that if Hermione wasn't going to be the first to talk, he would be. "So, Granger, about last night.." Draco said, but was cut off byt Hermione.

"I don't want to talk about it, Malfoy." She replied.

"Why not? It's not like we did anything. And technically it's your fault it started, Granger."

Hermione sighed. She knew he wasn't going to let this go.

"Alright, Draco. Here's the deal. I went into your room last night because you were having a nightmare. _You_ asked _me_ to stay with you. I agreed because I knew what you were going through. I've decided to give you a second chance this year, please don't make me regret it."

When she finished this, Hermione went back to her book, as if nothing ever happened.

Draco sighed, and reached over, snatching the book out of Hermione's hands.

"Look, Her-Granger. Thank you, I guess, for giving me a 'second chance'. First off, I want to apologise. I know I've done it before, but that was to the Golden Trio, not just to you personally. I know I've said some awful things over the past six years, and I apologise for it. If I could take it all back, I would in a heartbeat. I don't expect you to forgive me right now, but I will work to get your forgiveness. What happened last night? It won't happen again if you don't want it to. But last night was the first good night sleep I have had in, I don't know how long, but it was, and I think it was the same for you. If you want it to happen again, let it happen. If you don't, it won't, but at the end of the day, it's up to you Hermione," Draco finished his speech and sat back, waiting for Hermione to answer.

Hermione sat there, stunned at what she had heard, but content. "Deal," she said. "I accept your apology, and I will agree to you working on forgiveness. I'm still slightly confused about what happened last night, but I also accept your proposal on that. And also one more thing; no more Granger. You call me Hermione, I call you Draco. Deal?"

"Deal."


End file.
